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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Preview Track: CSNY 74 - "Pre-Road Downs" (Live in 1974)



Here's another preview track from upcoming CSNY 74 release, Graham Nash's "Pre-Road Downs".

enjoy!

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - 1974
The Ranch Rehearsals
(Click photo to enlarge)

More on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "CSNY 74" box set release .

22 comments:

  1. Hopefully I can buy each individual song. That way I can skip the CSN s*#^ and get only the NY songs. I'll save money to.

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  2. Can't really say we ever really understood those CSNY fans who heavily favored a particular member -- say Neil for example -- yet were contemptuous of other members.

    "They are one person
    They are two alone
    They are three together
    They are for each other"

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  3. What does the title of this song even mean?

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  4. Sounds great. Better than the 4 Way Street version!

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  5. To answer your question on why I was contemptuous of other members of csnY and preferred NY. Remember he was added to the group to give them an edge that csn didn't have(like the group America didn't have-yes I'm comparing the two). Two of those 3(GN was a hippie gentleman) were smug, arrogant and pompous prima donnas who as a young man back in the early seventies could not relate to an still can't. By comparison NY was dark and aloof and every one of his songs meant something to me. He was REAL.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah. But, what about the MUSIC? You don't know any of these people. Or is Neil such a bad judge of character that he hangs around with assholes?

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  6. Thanks Timothy for the explanation.

    Neil, no doubt, is the real deal -- obviously for us.

    But CSN were vital to catapulting Neil to wide success. Certainly the group dynamics have taken over more attention than it ever should. As they say, what happens backstage, should stay backstage.

    Who knows how things might have been with different chemistry and combinations.

    We were there in the Summer of '74 and must agree with Bill Graham's assessment that for a brief moment in time, CSNY were a N American Beatles/Stones.

    They were that big. They were that good.

    As we've said, we're really looking forward to this release and remembering that long, hot sunny August day.

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  7. Let's face it,there's a hell of a lot more interest in this
    Project than anything neil or for that case CSN has put out in a long time.As a matter of fact CROZ sold more copies than Live at cellar door did.CSNY was great for Stills and Youngs guitar interplay and the harmonies.It was a rare thing.Didnt last.

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  8. Jonathon asked - what does the title even mean?

    Pre-road Downs is about leaving home to go on tour. Sort of a darker Just A Song Before I Go.

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  9. I just saw Stephen on a little West Coast solo tour, just a 3 piece band that felt picked up.

    His voice is really rough nowadays, but he worked his ass off and he really impressed me with his guitar playing. Every single solo had a purpose, it fit the song, it was thought out, there was a feel and a sound (often a different guitar) to each one, and he was improvising and burning it up song after song.

    His set list sort of bookended the hits around some covers, some Rides material, some blues and some less well known Stills songs. Long set. Some acoustic some electric. I came away with a much better feeling about Stills than I walked in with. He is old and shows every bit of wear and tear, on his face and his voice. But he kicked some ass.

    No, he ain't Neil, Neil is a special thing, but some of what Stills had from '66 to '74 is still there.

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  10. ..... to paraphrase Thrasher, 'really looking forward to this release and remembering that long, hot sunny JULY day.'
    ....... i'm thinking' i'll just get the CDs, .... only the music counts, ....the rest, well, the rest is probably great for anyone who wasn't there

    & PS: Tim, it's rock'n roll, buddy. If someone's performing in front of a million people over the course of a summer & DIDN'T let off a whiff of smug, arrogant pomposity, they're likely not human. Who's to say that one mans' smug arrogance isn't another man's dark aloofness.
    ..... it's all one song.

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  11. I'm with Timothy, I just want Neil's songs. I'm not a CSN fan, but it has nothing to do with their character, I just don't care for their music.

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  12. STEPHEN STILLS
    CATALYST SANTA CRUZ

    1st Set
    -CHANGE PARTNERS
    -HELPLESSLY HOPING
    -THOROUGHFARE GAP
    -EVERYBODY'S TALKING
    -GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY (Dylan)
    -HOLLIS BROWN (Dylan)
    -I USED TO BE A KING (Nash)
    -JOHNNY'S GARDEN
    -SUITE:JUDY BLUE EYES

    2nd Set
    -SOUTHERN CROSS
    -TREETOP FLYER
    -DON'T WANT LIES (The Rides)
    -ROADHOUSE (The Rides)
    - MAKE LOVE TO YOU
    (Stills/Young album)
    -I'VE GOT TO USE MY IMAGINATION (Gladys Knight
    -AMAZONIA
    -BLUEBIRD (AWESOME!)
    -ROCKIN IN THE FREE WORLD (INCENDIARY)

    -FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
    -LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH

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  13. 1974

    the following Neil songs were played on the ' 74 tour but aren't represented on boxed set

    Cowgirl
    Human Highway
    A Man Needs a Maid
    Ambulance Blues
    On the Way Home
    Homefires
    The Needle and the Damage Done
    Out on the Weekend
    Down by the River
    The Losing End
    Birds
    Old Homestead
    Roll Another Number
    Heart of Gold
    Walk On
    Star of Bethlehem

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  14. Very cool tune,

    But I gotta say.. has anyone else noticed that the drums are just in mono, but get artificially "panned" side to side during some of the drum fills?

    Doesn't take pono to hear that, really wish they didn't try to fake stereo drums. It's distracting.

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  15. Now that is a bonus CD I would buy. Why not a collectors package with every different song that they caught on SDB? A couple of these are on the circulating Roosevelt Raceway tape. More valuable than a wood frickin box.

    Anon wrote:

    1974

    the following Neil songs were played on the ' 74 tour but aren't represented on boxed set

    Cowgirl
    Human Highway
    A Man Needs a Maid
    Ambulance Blues
    On the Way Home
    Homefires
    The Needle and the Damage Done
    Out on the Weekend
    Down by the River
    The Losing End
    Birds
    Old Homestead
    Roll Another Number
    Heart of Gold
    Walk On
    Star of Bethlehem

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  16. @Jonathan - we have an interpretation, but what do YOU think it means?

    @Philip - Ambulance Blues, my friend...
    "It's easy to get buried in the past
    When you try to make a good thing last"

    @Raincheck - agree

    And thanks for Stills review. That's really our whole point here. He's out there still making music with heart & soul.

    Not too many left from the days that used to be still doing that.

    @mark - which JULY day for you?

    @anon - thanks for set. nice range of tunes from old to new.

    Man, that list of outtakes from Neil's sets is pretty mindblowing. When you think about what has been left out of the box, it makes you anticipate what's in it even more. If that's even possible.

    @Unknown - hmm, hadn't noticed. But then again didn't listen under prime conditions. Still debating on Bluray or CD box? How about you? Would love to go for the vinyl set but that'll have to wait.... some day...


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  17. the 25th .... in the stands @ (& a) Mile High

    .... & i agree, WHAT a record those 'left off' Neil toons'd make

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  18. Would it be nice to have a few more Neil songs on this set, like the unreleased Homefires and Human Highway (even though, let's be real, the definitive version is the outtake on the Chrome Dreams boot)? Sure. But honestly, this is one incredibly generous box set, a whopping 40 tracks from the 8 shows that were recorded on multi-track during the tour. And at 14 songs, Neil has almost twice as many songs as Crosby, Stills and Nash represented in this set. Also, looking at the list of Neil songs not represented, "Walk On" and "The Losing End" doesn't stray too much from their album arrangements; we already have scorching live versions of "Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Down By the River" available on other albums; and the rest of the songs, like "Star of Bethlehem," "A Man Needs a Maid," and "Ambulance Blues," are solo acoustic songs that don't trump their studio counterparts. In all honesty, I think overall Graham did a pretty excellent job of selecting which Neil songs should be included in this box. It's a good mix of war horses, 5 (count 'em, 5) unreleased tunes, and songs that really benefited from the harmonies and arrangements that CSN provided (especially Mellow My Mind, On the Beach and Revolution Blues).

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  19. Looking at the Stills set list posted, I can add off the top of my head that the show I saw he also did Reason to Believe (Tim Hardin), Midnight Rider, in honor of the last gigs by the Allman Brothers, Woodstock and Daylight Again/ Find the Cost of Freedom. He dropped Amazonia. I feel like I'm missing one more he did. I think he did another blues number. Long show.

    Got to Use My Imagination was great.

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  20. What are the five unreleased Neil songs on this box set?

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  21. "Traces," "Goodbye Dick," "Love Art Blues," "Hawaiian Sunrise" and "Pushed it Over the End." Obviously us die-hard Neil fans more than likely already have these via boots, but they're finally seeing an official release on this set.

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